The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-06-16

Lesson In Road Making.

Address a Farmers Meeting. Boston.
the common practice of repairing roads,
think. is outrage a civilized people, especial
iy SO in the country on the common roads. This
may seem like an extravagant statement but L
do not consider 1t to be. The common practice
of blowing up the shoulders of the road and
drawing into the same, which is, in my Judg-
ment. still worse, the newly invented road
scraper that scrapes mud. and sod, and stones.
all the moterial there is, that was entirely worn
out long before ourselves saw the light of
day, and great many think that they are
wonderful machine, and wonder now they got
along without them.
have heard men make the statement that
they could repair from half mile to a mile in
day with four horses and two or three men.
Well. what il good for when they had done
all thisR Some part of the year IL might be
fairly good road, but if l remember right
have travel these roads every day In the
year, and great part of the year it will be
either mud or dust, and when 1t is mud a horse
cannot draw half the load that he could if he
had a good road and work much harder and the
same may be said of the dust besides its being
great nuisance to the traveller. The question
then comes. how we make a road that is
free from mud and dust, and that one horse can
draw much as two on our common roadsE
l do not expect that we can build all these
roads in one year or five years, but we can com
mence and build more or less every year until
we get the main travelled ways good shape,
and when once well done, but very little will keep
them in repair l do not say that all towns have
the proper material at hand, but the majority
have. Land where clay soil exists has in its
makeup almost iunumerable quantities of stones
from the size or QeD eggs TO those as large as
ones head and larger These stones are In our
fields and pastures q nuisance, and an eye sore
to the farmer. They in heaps all over the
farm. in the corners of the fields, drawn out and
tipped on the roadside and into ravines and in
every place conceivable but the right place. and
that is in the center of the road.
We will suppose that want to have
almost perfect road from one town to another on
the main travelled road. In the first place we
must decide upon the width, whether to have 1t
seven eight feet in width or twice that width;
! n V
width will answer. Ii the soil Is wet and
heavy clay, more depth of stones will be needed
than when of a light and sandy nature.
When the width of the roadway IS decided
upon, take a strong plow with good team and
commence on the outside of the roadway, turn
ing the burrows outward, and go a certain dis
lance, not so far to very much incommode
the public. After you get a certain distance
turn round and take the other side, also turning
the burrows outward; pillow it over IN the same
way two or three times, then If you have not
depth enough take SCOOP shovel and draw out
until you have the proper depth. / would then
advise putting IN stones to the depth OF about
eighteen inches. placing the largest stones at the
bottom The firmer and more compact you put
in the stones the better the road. Crown it
there will be nearly one inch of fall to the foot
from the center of the roadway Take special
pains to have the top layer of stones in proper
form and compact together. Once in eight
ten rods would put in sluiceway at the sides
for the water to run out. Cover the stones with
good gravel from one to two inches in depth,
we'll raked and rolled in When you have done
this, Will guarantee you a ROAD, tnaL with very
little care will last for generations. The ma
teral that is plowed out will answer for the
shoulders of the road
There many small roads in the country
towns that will have TO be repaired as they have
been in the past and there are also many that
ought to be repaired in much more substantial
way than they have BEEN 1t depends the
distance to proper material; with stone and
gravel within one even two miles, a short
distance put III shape each year will, after
awhile, work wonders. Commence in the worst
MI first Dantt hraaE the GhOuldars of the
road if you can possibly help it The old saying
that a stitch in time saves nine in the case of
roads is doubly true; little care often saves
very heavy expense
On small roads, rather whore there is but
little travel, and the roads run I'D and down the
hills, | would recommend putting in quite often
long heavy breaks, as to keep the water out
of the road and have roads pretty well crowned.
Repaired in this way it will cost but little to
keep them Never pick up the stones and throw
them into the gutter, as is the common practice,
but put them where they belong; little
exercised in this way in the long run pays.
Keep the brush cut.